Yesterday, my son Erik and I participated in a protest against Goodwill’s practice of paying people with disabilities less than minimum wage. Pretty disgusting, huh? This was Erik’s second protest and he’s only eighteen months old. Being a mom, and a blind one at that, I am determined to be active and hip. Moms can have a life, right?
So how do you wave a sign in the air, deal with a kid and walk with a cane? You see, we were walking back and forth on the sidewalk in front of a Goodwill store. The sidewalk had the usual trappings–trees, garbage cans, people passing by, large cracks, etc. We were walking from corner to corner which was a little challenging with a stroller. By the way, I balanced a sign on top of Erik’s stroller. The photo below shows just how it all looked.
After a while, I decided to make it a little easier on me and I put the stroller in a friend’s car, busted out my ring sling, put the kid on my hip, my cane in one hand and a sign proclaiming: Pennies per hour is not a job. It made the whole experience a little more fun because my son really started to get into it. He helped carry the sign and he loved chanting. He could not say, “hey, hey, ho, ho, subminimum wage has got to go”, but he sure tried! His favorite was the chant he and I chanted, which was, “protest, ya ya ya”. He loved that one.
So you see, one definitely can be active, despite being a mom and a blind one at that!
Signing off for now,
Bay Area Blind Mom
Bay Area Blind Mom 